Month: January 2009

Bondi Beach Grill & Bar is located at The Curve. I went to catch Inkheart just now with Yiling and decided to check out the latest eating establishment at The Curve at the same time. Yiling was so appallingly late we practically had to scoff down lunch to make it to the movie on time but we shall leave her tardiness for another post. :p

Bondi Beach Grill & Bar is named after the popular beach in Australia and I have it on good authority (I was there for four years) that it’s pronounced BOND-eye instead of BOND-ee. The interior is adorned with surfboards and other surfer memorabilia that recreates a pretty authentic feel of a laid back beach restaurant. There is even an al fresco dining area shaped like a hut and shaded from the sun.

Bondi Beach Grill & Bar has a Set Lunch menu for RM 14.90 with the following options:Soup of the Day or Chicken Yakitori or Prawn Pinwheels or Seafood SaladwithChar-Grilled Fillet of Dory with Lemon Butter Sauce & Steamed Rice or Creamy Seafood Pasta or Char-Grilled Minute Steak with Pepper Sauce & Fried Mini RostiandFresh Fruit Salad Topped with Vanilla Ice Cream

Hallelujah! I can finally take photos like these with my dSLR. ;)This would be the freshly squeezed watermelon juice (RM 14), which I thought was appropriate for the setting. The set lunch does not come with drinks although iced water is complimentary.

Yiling went with the Prawn Pinwheels for starters. The presentation of Bondi Beach Grill & Bar is impeccable – I love the attention to detail, it shows true passion in the chef. It’s the little things like the sprinkling of oregano that makes the dish casual yet elegant. The Prawn Pinwheels are grilled to perfection and comes out juicy and crispy, another excellent contrast.

I opted for the healthier sounding Seafood Salad for the appetizer. Bondi Beach is generous with the seafood – there is squid, shrimp and mussels on top of a bed of lettuce and cherry tomatoes. The dressing uses a lot of herbs that blends well with the light nature of the dish, yet imparting enough zest to jolt my jaded taste buds.

Yiling called dibs on the Char-Grilled Minute Steak with Pepper Sauce & Fried Mini Rosti for the main. She had already decided last night that she was going to order this and the plan was to order different items so we could try out different dishes. The Minute Steak, as the name suggests, is about 1/3 the size of a regular steak. I didn’t think much of it though, it was too well done for my tastes.

I wanted to order the dory fish but the waitress recommended the Creamy Seafood Pasta instead. I wasn’t disappointed. It’s absolutely fabulous! The Seafood Pasta is linguine cooked in a very creamy alfredo sauce served with generous portions of shrimp, squid and mussels. The creaminess of the pasta goes very well with the seafood – I’ve run out of superlatives to describe this dish, it’s simply delicious! It’s hands down the best pasta I’ve had this year.

Yiling agrees, and she’s not even a fan of alfredo and other cream based sauces!

The Fresh Fruit Salad Topped with Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert is presented well, with a hint of caramel sauce and just the right amount of ice cream. The fruits are chilled before serving, making this the perfect light and refreshing end to the meal.

Unfortunately, we had to scoff it down coz we were late for the movie.

The bill came up to RM 50.60 for two but that’s largely due to the watermelon juice that I ordered. The Bondi Beach Grill & Bar Set Lunch is RM 14.90 each. I have yet to check out their dinner menu, but if their set lunch is anything to go by, it would not disappoint. I highly recommend the Creamy Seafood Pasta.

I haven’t washed my car ever since it was shipped to KL about two months ago and I figured it was high time it got some foam lovin’ before I drove down to Ipoh. There is a car wash near my condo so I drove over and asked for it to be cleaned, both the interior and exterior. This was the eve of Chinese New Year and there was a long queue at the car wash. I was told to pick it up two hours later.

I’ve never paid RM 40 for a car wash before. It’s daylight robbery! It’s not even waxed; they just vacuumed the insides of the car and washed the outside. I must look like I’m not from around here, coz I was slaughtered by these dudes.

How much do you usually pay for a car wash in KL anyway?

P/S – I forgot to mention, my Touch’n Go card was stolen by these fellas too! I only realized the next day when I drove down to Ipoh and couldn’t find it in the coin drawer where I keep it when I had to pay for toll!

I just came back from lunch at Canton-i, Midvalley with Yvonne. She was on The Breakfast Show on ntv7 yesterday morning and texted me to meet up. Eddie passed her some stuff to bring back when she went to the US for her operation.

Yvonne Foong has neurofibromatosis and she’s raising funds for her radiotherapy. You can donate at her site or purchase her Heart4Hope t-shirts. It’s only RM 20 and it’s for a great cause – help a fellow blogger out, eh?

Restaurant New Paris is renowned for two things – their watermelon chicken and the speed their dishes are served. I was there for the second lou sang dinner of the year – there were 24 of us so we occupied two tables on the third floor. Yes, despite it’s humble exterior, Restaurant New Paris actually has three (!) floors of dining splendor.

I neglect to mention the other thing New Paris Restaurant in SS2 is famous for – the loudspeaker-toting proprietor. He takes his hailer and literally shouts out orders to the crew, you just have to experience it. Heh! You can see how often that is done by the well-loved and duct-taped hailer. Hail to the (real) King, baby! ;)(no pun intended)

The full three stories of Restaurant New Paris are captured here. It wasn’t quite full when we arrived at 6:30 pm but by the time it reached around 7 pm the entire three floors of New Paris Restaurant was absolutely packed! It’s very popular, that’s for sure. I also learnt the arcane art of “cleansing” cups – you’re supposed to pour hot tea into one and then swirl it around before pouring it into the next cup. Rinse and repeat.

I present – the salmon yee sang of New Paris Restaurant! Most of the ingredients are sourced off-the-shelf…

…but it’s the ceremony that matters! More $ during the next year! More bonuses! Higher paychecks! Win 6k in Genting! Snag Cameron Diaz! Okay, maybe not that last one.

We were very enthusiastic about the entire thing…look at the aftermath of the lau sang session. I think some of it got into my drink as well… -_-!!!

I like the quaint steamed rice in a pot that Restaurant New Paris serves their rice in. The butter prawns was tasty too. I wouldn’t be in a rush to write home about the omelet, vegetables, or the tofu but their pork leg is ze best! Excellent!

No Chinese New Year dinner would be complete without fish. This is ginger fish, steamed before being deep-fried. I was astounded that this was actually possible. How can you steam a fish and then deep fry it? Logistics aside, the ginger fish was great.

However, the signature dish of Restaurant New Paris is their watermelon chicken. It has scoops of fresh watermelon on the side with the hollowed out fruit being used as a receptacle for sweet and sour chicken. It’s fabulous and the presentation is great. It’s so good there was watermelon ball poaching amongst the two tables. :)

Wai Yan and Fionne.

Restaurant New Paris serves good Chinese food and the upside is that they churn out their dishes really fast. I mean, really fast, as in Speedy Gonzalez kind of fast. The flagship watermelon chicken should not be missed. The chicken pieces are tender and flavorful and I could only find the Good Parts (TM) inside – drums, thighs etc.

Anyway, I’ll be driving down to Ipoh later for an overnight road trip. Catch you all tomorrow. Happy Chinese New Year everyone! :)

My Photoshop skillz are legendary for being mediocre at best, which is why I outsource most of the stuff that requires design. ;)

I’ll not be going back this CNY, but to those of you who’re doing the reunion dinner, Happy Chinese New Year and may the Year of the Ox bring happiness, prosperity and all that is Good (TM) to your lives. =D

For those in the PJ area who is not going back and not having a reunion dinner a.k.a. orphans of circumstance like me, wanna go dinner or movie? The latter is a bit unorthodox but I’m driving down to Ipoh tomorrow morning so I can’t do drinking or stuff like that. Berhati-berhati di jalan raya and all that. ;)

Malaysia Airlines organized an yee sang dinner for bloggers at Mum’s Place. There were 25 bloggers in attendance occupying three tables – most of them familiar faces, but I met a couple of bloggers that I haven’t seen IRL before. It was fun! It’s my first yee sang dinner of the year.

The yee sang with salmon!

It’s a tradition in Singapore and Malaysia to lau sang during Chinese New Year. It’s supposed to kickstart an auspicious new year by collectively mixing the ingredients with chopsticks while chanting phrases like “prosperity in the year to come” and all that. :)

I just like the colors of the dish and the community aspects.

Steamed rice was served and a plethora of dishes came in quick succession after that. I love the huge prawns – very juicy and succulent.

Another highlight is the Assam Fish. It’s fabulous!

Other memorable dishes were the chicken curry, vegetables, delicious beef slices and the desserts. I had a banana split.

Camwhoring time was scheduled after dinner.

Lots of familiar faces here…

…and people I haven’t met before or haven’t seen in a long time.

Miscellaneous group photos.

Eh, dun la mug me after I just got mugged.

Miss Wai Fong who hosted the dinner. Thanks!

MAS was also very receptive to suggestions on how to improve their service – I offered an experience when I was flying KL – Melbourne on New Year’s Eve and nothing happened at 12 AM. Most of the passengers were left hanging, awake and waiting for some sort of in-flight celebration, but the New Year passed with nary a peep. They took note of that, so I hope your NYE’s flight would be filled with merriment (or at least some party favors and an announcement). ;)

MAS was kind enough to give us all some home made pineapple tarts and a gift pack containing a diary, a DVD and a nifty red USB drive that can be twisted around your wrist like a bracelet. Nice!More coverage here:Sultan MuzaffarWingzRed MummyBabe in the City

I just woke up, having repaid my sleep debt for the week. I’m still feeling a little groggy though, slept for more than 18 hours (!). I was looking out my window while having a smoke, and saw two groups of people packing their bags into their cars to head home for CNY.

I’m not going home this Chinese New Year. :( I’m sure going to miss my friends back home and the traditional grand fireworks display by the good citizens of Sibu. The tickets are too expensive and I didn’t think it was worth it to be going back for just four days.

(Un)fortunately my workplace decided to implement a one week compulsory holiday since too many people are taking long leaves for CNY. I checked AirAsia when I heard the news but the tickets are sold out to be in time for the reunion dinner (tomorrow night). The return tickets are also too expensive so I think I’m just going to chill here in KL.

I’ll be reading a lot, catching up on my sleep and all that. I just started on this book – Train Man, literally a translation of Japan’s 2-Channel forum about a nerdy young guy who hooks up with this girl Hermes (which was dubbed so due to the teacups of the label she gave him when he “saves” her from a drunk on a train).

Engrossing read, I love the forum format of the book. Its funny and endearing at the same time.

Anyway, more updates later tonight. I haven’t properly woken up yet, I shall go in search for food.

Since this is a random post, I shall embed a viral video that’s been going around the office like crazy December 2008. I heard it just hit a friend’s workplace:

Anyone else not going home for CNY? Come, email me and we’ll work out something. Trip to Genting perhaps? Uncle Lim’s son owes me money from a disastrous trip there last year (lost on the fourth day after a winning streak on the first three days – arrgghhh) and thus I have decided to go back this year and get it back…with interest. ;)

Football is practically the national sport of Malaysia. It’s like dengue, just more insidious. Football fever hits most red-blooded males every four years (World Cup) and we have seasonal outbreaks during the major leagues as well. Symptoms of the infection include a zombie-like appearance at work (due to lack of sleep) and the sports section of the office newspaper mysteriously disappearing.

‘Tis the season again, where football fans gather at mamaks all around Malaysia. I know coz (very) loud cheering can be heard when goals are scored by the punters favorite teams. It’s the EPL 2008/2009 season and things can get so loud and raucous that a mamak 200 meters down the road can wake you up with their boisterous celebration! If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, I say.

I’m sure a lot of gamers out there have heard of the FIFA series. I have a friend who was obsessed with the game back in high school. Of course, we didn’t have broadband back then (think 33.6 k modems) but now with the massive broadband penetration, the latest iteration of the FIFA football game franchise has gone online!

Think of an online football MMO (!). It’s just something that hasn’t been done before.

I managed to get my hands on the EA SportsTM FIFA Online 2 DVD kit before it was launched. There is a bonus code in each DVD pack that gives you a special item. The Open Beta Test (OBT) is going on now so you can also download the game client at the official site.

There is a Bonus Game Item in the DVD kit, which can either give you LP (not the vinyl, or the Hokkien phrase – League Points, the in-game currency), Uniform Cards (which awards a mystery player to your team), or a Medical Kit (heals injured players). I got the medical kit with my code.

The game guides you with tutorials to familiarize yourself with the game, which would be useful for those who haven’t played a football game before. The tutorials covers the basics, attacking, defending, passing – it’s good enough for you to try your luck in a real match…preferably with a similarly ranked player so you won’t get thrashed too badly. ;)

EA SportsTM FIFA Online 2 plays like a football game with RPG elements. You start out with (next to) nothing, a bottom feeder, and work your way up through the leagues. You win points by winning matches and your players “level up” throughout the matches. It’s a persistent game world so all your stats are retained the next time you log on! Nifty.

The interface allows you to chat with other players on the server and arrange for matches. I’ve been talking to some of the people in the pre-game chat room and found out that a lot of them are from KL too.

I started my first match with someone who also happens to live in Kelana Jaya (imagine the coincidence) and got thoroughly trashed by him. I blame multitasking for my defeat, my phone rang while I was playing and he didn’t stop attacking despite the fact that I’m AFK. :p

The best part about EA SportsTM FIFA Online 2 is the social interaction. After my defeat, he asked if I would be interested in catching the EPL game tonight at the mamak near my place. A couple of his friends are going as well, so I’m going to drop by too and watch the game.

You can get the EA SPORTSTM FIFA Online 2 CD from 7-Eleven and Popular Bookstores starting 23rd January 2009. It’s an official licensed product of FIFA!

In conjunction with the nationwide launch, a special tournament will be held at selected Internet Cafes. Check with your friendly neighborhood cyber café to see if they’re organizing this event.

Do you think you have what it takes? There’s also the ASEAN Championships scheduled in September 2009 with real life prizes to be won, so get your player lineup ready to beat the best of the best in our part of the world!

You’ll be playing against people from Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Taiwan in the ASEAN Championships and the winner of each country will be flown down to Singapore for an on-site match with a total prize bounty of USD 100,000. (!)

My only beef with EA SportsTM FIFA Online 2 is that I’m used to playing FPS games like Quake (ranked #42 in PGL too, back in the days) and my favorite line was “Death from above!”. Well, there’s no “above” on a football field so I can’t use my trademark taunt anymore. Oh well. Perhaps I shall resort to taking a football with me and dropping it on my new EA SportsTM FIFA Online 2 buddy’s head later.

I have gotten all my archives back into the database! The ETA is a bit later than scheduled but at least it’s before CNY. I figured it would take me a year to get all my posts from April 2002 integrated into the database so I decided to hire someone to do it for me. I outsourced the data entry to a friend of mine for RM 600 (including bonus for early completion).

I know I’m paying way above the market price since a lot of the categories and tags are messed up, but at least she’s very vigilant about the chronological aspects (year, date, and time) so it’s solid. This is the reason why I’m so broke this month, but I reckon it’s a good price to pay to get sixthseal.com fully up and functional once again. =D

I can’t expect her to think like I do so I would have to redo the categories and tags but in the meantime, I would appreciate it if you can assist in beta testing the archives. It’s entirely searchable now but there are two categories that shouldn’t be in there at all. Viewer discretion is advised while I sort that out.

Thank you for staying with me, Constant Reader, and it’s been a long journey since I started blogging but now I’m back on track.